Steve Price: Albo’s big mistake was installing ‘ticking time bomb’ in US embassy
Kevin Rudd’s ego-driven arrogance and record of expletive-ridden tantrums made his appointment in Washington seem either crazily brave or plain dumb. Here is why Steve Price thinks it’s the latter.
Opinion
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Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd has been in the job for just over a year now.
His appointment might just turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes PM Anthony Albanese has made since taking office. And that’s saying something.
If Rudd lasts until the next US Presidential election in November, he will have to grovel his way back into favour with Donald Trump who on Wednesday this week described Dr Rudd as “not the brightest bulb.”
Trump is the raging favourite to defeat Joe Biden in November and in an interview with Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage – which aired on Sky News this week – he called out Rudd on past insults and hinted the Ambassador might not be “welcome” in Washington if Trump were to win.
Worryingly for former PM Rudd the interview saw the media dredge up some of the more colourful descriptions he has used to describe the Republican candidate. He has called Trump “a traitor to the West” and accused him of being guilty of “rancid treachery.” On the ABC’s Q and A he went as far as to label President Trump as “nuts.”
A defensive Rudd in an earlier interview with Sky News defended his insults by attempting to suggest that was the “done thing” in his previous role as head of an independent think tank. So, Kevin Rudd has such an ego that he believes he can go around insulting people and they will forgive him because he is now a diplomat.
I suspect Donald Trump is not that forgiving and the problem for Australia will be that the White House door will be firmly slammed shut in Rudd’s face.
Given the importance of the US / Australia alliance and the delicate ongoing negotiations over the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, the appointment of Rudd by Albanese was always going to come back to bite him one day.
Earlier this year Sky News dug out vision of Dr Rudd referring to that AUKUS agreement – as struck by former PM Scott Morrison back in 2021- as an exercise in making (Morrison) look “hairy chested.”
Rudd’s comments were made on SBS, and the broadcaster referred to an opinion piece penned by Dr Rudd in a French newspaper which was described as a sharp critique of AUKUS.
As is the former PM’s habit he had his staff object to the Sky News report, demanding an urgent correction to the record and calling the commentary around his remarks a “false characterisation.”
It was clearly a sore point for the then new resident of 3120 Cleveland Avenue in Washington.
But Ambassador Rudd can’t rewrite history given he called the Morrison Governments tearing up of a submarine contract with France a “foreign policy debacle.”
It got worse for Rudd in another interview, this time on the ABC with Leigh Sales, that saw the Ambassador refer to the AUKUS deal as potentially “leaving Australia strategically naked for 20 years”.
It seems Rudd wants to pretend he has never been critical of the massive three-way submarine deal. It’s as if he thinks he can simply wish away comments he’s made in the past and arrive at his new post as an AUKUS cleanskin. Just as he now wants to have everyone believe he could insult Donald Trump before becoming Ambassador but then turn up next year cap in hand thinking all has been forgotten.
Anyone it seems, who dares raise past comments made by this bloke, immediately gets a please explain from his office.
It’s this ego driven arrogance that made Kevin Rudd’s appointment to the Washington post a dangerous mistake by the PM and his Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
Given Mr Rudd’s past form and litany of expletive ridden tantrums, making him a diplomat in the first place was either crazy brave or just plain dumb. I’m leaning toward the dumb description.
You certainly cannot deny his knowledge about China – he speaks Mandarin and worked at the embassy there – but he also referred to Chinese climate change negotiators at the Copenhagen Climate Change summit in 2010 as “Chinese f … ers trying to ratf … us.”
Charmingly diplomatic.
He’s apologised to a RAAF flight steward who he reduced to tears over an unavailable meal on his Prime Ministerial jet saying at the time “all of us are human. I’m human, I’m not perfect.”
And of course we had his expletive ridden video leaked to the media over his frustration at doing a piece to camera. I could go on of course taking the risk that I will be attacked by Ambassador Rudd for being unfair to him.
That takes me back to May 9 of 2022 – almost two years ago – when at 7.23am a google doc landed in the inbox here at the Herald Sun. It followed a column I had written in this space about the character of politicians I had interviewed over the past 50 years.
It was an innocent enough assessment of a group of Federal and State MP’s and who I rated and who I didn’t.
I made a passing reference to Dr Rudd’s infamous celebrity / business gathering in Canberra after he won the election in 2007. The whiteboard and butcher paper love in featuring Kevin 07 sitting on the floor with his famous friends.
Back to that letter and you tell me if you think the sort of language, he used to describe ME personally is ambassadorial language suitable for our most senior and sensitive diplomatic posting.
Given Trump’s “not the brightest bulb” barb this week after the interviewer mentioned what Kevin had said about Trump, I thought I’d share what he said about me.
Among other things Rudd called me “A GUTLESS COWARD.” Dr Rudd referred to my journalism career as “long, tedious and meaningless.”
He at least he got the long part right.
If possible, it got worse with Rudd describing me as an “aggrieved hatchet man” the “greatest nonentity in the history of Australian journalism” and suggested I step off the sidelines and enter politics.
Clearly, Kevin, not even I am that stupid.
What apparently set off the then new Ambassador was a reference by me about the viability of the NDIS that came from that infamous Canberra love-in.
Given the massive cost to the budget of NDIS and the rorts recently uncovered I was probably ahead of my time questioning its viability.
I release the details now of that diatribe because Rudd has followed in the footsteps of some great US ambassadors from both sides of politics, making his appointment even more puzzling.
Arthur Sinodinos – the cancer surviving former Liberal MP – was Rudd’s predecessor with a blemish free stint. He was the latest in a long line of former Federal Cabinet Ministers to hold the office.
We can go back to the late Andrew Peacock who was a huge hit in Washington, followed by the equally impressive Kim Beazley and former Liberal Treasurer Joe Hockey who was there during the Trump years and who famously renovated the embassy residences’ tennis court – the only grass court in the US capital.
Hockey even hit the golf course with President Trump, making sure he didn’t win. Rudd doesn’t play golf and I am sure given his past comments an invite to Mar- a- Lago isn’t arriving anytime soon.
Good luck Prime Minister, you have installed a ticking time-bomb in the Cleveland Avenue Embassy in the form of Kevin Rudd and Nigel Farage this week made sure Donald Trump knows he is there.
Over to you, Kevin!
Likes / dislikes of the week
DISLIKES
– Melbourne Grand Prix organisers banning the Ukraine flag from Albert Park this weekend – why?
– Clickbait bullying of Princess Kate. People need to leave her alone.
– Protected species of possums destroying native tree canopies – these things need to be culled.
– ABC’s 4 Corners airing Russian propaganda dressed up as behind the scenes war coverage.
LIKES
– Donald Trump’s take-down of Ambassador Kevin Rudd.
– Daniel Ricciardo – what a fantastic ambassador he is for his sport and country.
– Extra jail time handed out to a couple of Extinction Rebellion protesters.
– Ankle bracelets to be attached to repeat child offenders to keep track of them.
Originally published as Steve Price: Albo’s big mistake was installing ‘ticking time bomb’ in US embassy
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